[1] JAMES POTTER VICTIM SUPPORT CLUB ━ Sirius Black

05. Handsome

FIVE HANDSOME

     "Oi, have you told Maeve I'm smoking again?" Sirius approached Victor in his usual smoking corner against the walls of Hogwarts. It was getting harder to stay outside to smoke, but Victor had gotten quite skilled at using warming enchantments to withstand the cold a little longer than normal.  His expression as Sirius approached him was unchanged as he took another drag.

"It may have... slipped out," Victor admitted with a sigh, hanging Sirius an unlit cigarette. "Consider this a pity one for getting you in the doghouse."

"Thanks," Sirius huffed, clearly still trying to sound mad as he took the cigarette and lit it, "It's so stupid, really, like why does she even care? Everyone smokes! Just because it's harder to get 'em around here, doesn't mean people aren't doing it! I'd say she's acting like my mum, but my mum couldn't give a rat's arse about what I do."

Victor nodded solemnly, turning to the boy with a disdainful expression as he said, "I'm gonna be honest, I really don't care. Maeve is a nurturer, you know this. She'll nanny you into the grave without even realizing it. She also probably hates kissing you when I reckon you taste like an ashtray."

"Like you're any better," the boy scoffed, gray smoke dark against the snowy landscape around them spilling past his lips.

He just shrugged, "I'm not the one Maeve is kissing, am I?"

"Guess not," Sirius grumbled, "Hey, why aren't you dating anyone? I reckon Marlene's had a crush on you since second year, but you've never even had a girlfriend, have you?"

"Not important," Victor brushed it off, "We're teenagers, nothing we build here is going to last — no offense. I'd rather pay attention to my studies than go around chasing broads."

It was a lie, of course. There was a very clear reason that Victor never had a girlfriend, but it wasn't one that he was ever going to dare to say out loud. He turned to look at the boy smoking next to him, the way his long dark hair stood out against his red scarf and the snow around them. His features were sharp enough to cut glass; he wondered if he were to reach out and run a finger along his jaw if he would bleed.

"I respect that, I guess," Sirius continued, his eyes glued to the landscape around them. "I didn't think I was ever gonna be the type for a girlfriend either, never been good with commitment when it came to girls. But Maeve, she's just—"

"Just Maeve?" he supplied with a raised eyebrow as he finally turned his gaze away, "Yeah, she tends to affect people."

He feels Sirius's gaze bore into his side profile as the dark-haired-boy asks, "Has she ever has that effect on you?"